Alex, an African Gray parrot, is so far the only non-human animal to ever ask an existential question about himself, which means he was self-aware enough to understand his own existence. Alex was owned and used by researcher Irene Pepperberg, an animal psychologist, to better understand how parrots can learn from and mimic humans. This week, on Eureka, Uma speaks to Irene Pepperberg about her life studying animal intelligence.

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